Resistance allocating apparatus of four-limb exercise equipment

ABSTRACT

A resistance allocating apparatus of a four-limb exercise equipment is consisted of an exercise equipment having a resistance supplier and a transmission motor, and an electronic control meter having a control panel. The exercise equipment has a pedal link rod and a corresponding handle link rod to define a limbs link relation, and a transmission motor is provided and operated for controlling the displacement of an elevating saddle, and the electronic control meter uses a corresponding control key installed on a control panel of the electronic control meter to control a resistance supplier and a transmission motor by the design of a built-in software program and a control circuit, so as to control an exercise resistance level and adjust the position of the elevating saddle, and the control panel further including a zero setting key and a resistance allocating selection key for selecting a four-limb exercise resistance allocation percentage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Fields of the Invention

The present invention relates to a resistance allocating apparatus of afour-limb exercise equipment, and more particularly to the resistanceallocating apparatus capable of selecting a four-limb exerciseresistance allocation percentage of an exercise equipment to meet auser's specific exercise requirement.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, four-limb exercise equipments refer to all fitness/exerciseequipments with a link relation of upper limbs (both hands) and lowerlimbs (both legs). In short, when an exerciser uses exercise equipmentsof this sort, there is a link relation of four limbs regardless ofapplying forces to the upper limbs or lower limbs to achieve an expectedsynchronous exercise effect of the four limbs.

However, some exercisers have the idea of doing exercise at differentexercise levels for the upper limbs and lower limbs in certain specificsituations due to different specific requirements of the exerciser'straining, therapy or personal preference. Therefore, the simplest way ofachieving the aforementioned objective in various types of exerciseequipments and common using habits is to separate the exercise of theupper and lower limbs. For example, fitness bikes or treadmills areprovided for a pedaling exercise of the legs, and weightlifters ordumbbells are provided for exercises of the hands. Although sucharrangement can meet the ultimate four-limb exercise requirement, yet itis time-consuming and inconvenient for exercisers, and thus indirectlyshowing that the design of conventional exercise equipments is notuser-friendly and requires improvements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to providea resistance allocating apparatus of an exercise equipment having asaddle with a height adjustable by a transmission motor, so that anexercisers sitting on the saddle may change the force applying space ofthe upper and lower limbs and a corresponding force applying component(such as a handle link rod and a pedal link rod) automatically to changea resistance allocation for the exercise of the upper and lower limbsappropriately, so as to achieve an expected exercise effect.

According to the invention, a resistance allocating apparatus of afour-limb exercise equipment is consisted of an exercise equipmenthaving a resistance supplier and a transmission motor, and an electroniccontrol meter having a control panel. The exercise equipment has a pedallink rod and a corresponding handle link rod to define a limbs linkrelation, and a transmission motor is provided and operated forcontrolling the displacement of an elevating saddle, and the electroniccontrol meter uses a corresponding control key installed on a controlpanel of the electronic control meter to control a resistance supplierand a transmission motor by the design of a built-in software programand a control circuit, so as to control an exercise resistance level andadjust the position of the elevating saddle, and the control panelfurther including a zero setting key and a resistance allocatingselection key for selecting a four-limb exercise resistance allocationpercentage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accomplishment of this and other objects of the invention willbecome apparent from the following description and its accompanyingdrawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic planar view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is another schematic planar view of FIG. 1 showing a heightadjustment of a saddle;

FIG. 4 is a schematic planar view of an electronic control meter of apreferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic planar view of another preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention will now be described in more detail hereinafterwith reference to the accompanying drawings that show variousembodiments of the invention.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 for a resistance allocating apparatusinstalled in an elliptical exercise machine (hereinafter referred to asan “exercise equipment 10”), the figures show an exercise equipment 10and an electronic control meter 30.

The exercise equipment 10 comprises a ground-affixed support stand 11, afront support stand 12, a saddle support stand 13 and two pedal linkrods 15, each having a pedal 14, wherein an electronic control meter 30is installed at the front of the front support stand 12, and bothcorresponding ends of a crank 16 are pivotally coupled to the rear ofthe two pedal link rods 15 respectively, such that the crank 16 candrive a gear plate 17 to rotate, and a transmission belt 18 is operatedto link an inertia flywheel 19 to rotate, and a resistance supplier 20is installed on a side of the flywheel 19 to provide an adjustableexercise resistance to the flywheel 19, and a handle link rod 21 ispivotally coupled to the front of each of the two pedal link rods 15,and the other end of the handle link rod 21 is pivotally coupled to bothsides of the front support stand 12 proximate to the top, so that thehandle link rod 21 and the pedal link rod 15 have a limbs link relation.In addition, an elevating saddle 23 is installed at the saddle supportstand 13 through four link rod mechanisms 22, and a transmission motor24 is provided for controlling the displacement of the elevating saddle23.

The electronic control meter 30 uses the design of a built-in softwareprogram and a control circuit to control the resistance supplier 20 andthe transmission motor 24 freely through a basic control key 32 of acontrol panel 31, so as to control the exercise resistance level andadjust the position of the elevating saddle 23. Particularly, thecontrol panel 31 further includes a zero setting key 33 and a resistanceallocating selection key 34 installed thereon.

With the assembly of the aforementioned apparatus, an exerciser mayadjust the elevating saddle 23 to an exercise position which suits theexerciser the best to perform an exercise stroke directly according tothe user's figure and personal feeling after sitting on the elevatingsaddle 23 or may further press a zero setting key 33 at a specificposition such that the built-in software program stores this positioninto a memory and considers this position as a four-limb exerciseresistance balance point for the specific exerciser, and the exercisercan select the required exercise resistance allocation percentagethrough the resistance allocating selection key 34. After the exerciserhas made a selection, the built-in software program will drive thetransmission motor 24 to adjust the position of the elevating saddle 23to obtain the required exercise resistance allocation percentage.

The software program and the control circuit are prior arts, and thuswill not be described in details.

The so-called “four-limb exercise resistance balance point” refers to areference point of the position of the elevating saddle 23 subjectivelydefined by a specific exerciser according to the exerciser's figure andusing habits. After the exerciser presses the zero setting key 33, thebuilt-in software program of the electronic control meter 30 of thepresent invention will consider the position of the specific elevatingsaddle 23 as the specific exerciser's “four-limb exercise resistancebalance point”, that is the exercise resistance of the upper and lowerbalance allocated to the upper limbs and limbs respectively (50% each or5:5), and then the exerciser can select different exercise resistanceallocation percentages (such as a proportion of 6:4, indicating that 60%of the resistance is allocated to the upper limbs and 40% of theresistance is allocated to the lower limbs by the resistance allocatingselection key 34), so that the exerciser's upper limbs will have moreexercise resistance than the lower limbs. On the other hand, if theexerciser selects a proportion of 4:6, then the lower limbs will havemore training. Of course, everyone's figure and personal feeling vary,so that the aforementioned “four-limb exercise resistance balance point”may be set individually by the exercisers to match the position of thesaddle to best fit personal requirements.

As described above, the so-called “exercise resistance allocationpercentage” is provided for changing a force applying space between theexerciser's upper and lower limbs and the corresponding force applyingcomponents (such as the handle link rod 21 and the pedal link rod 15)based on the front, rear, high and low positions of the elevating saddle23. The smaller the force applying space, the greater exercising forcerequired for the same resistance condition. On the contrary, a lessexercising force is required. In FIGS. 2 and 3, when the elevatingsaddle 23 of the present invention is situated at a different position,the stretchable space for the upper and lower limbs is expanded orcompressed. If the stretchable space of the upper limbs is expanded (orthe elevating saddle 23 is situated at a low position), the stretchablespace of the lower limbs will be compressed, so that the exercise of theupper limbs requires less effort and the exercise of the lower limbsrequires more effort. If the elevating saddle 23 is situated at a highposition, the exercise of the lower limbs will require less effort.Therefore, different exercise resistance allocation percentages can beobtained according to the design and calculation of the apparatus of thepresent invention and its software program.

With reference to FIG. 5 for anther preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the resistance allocating apparatus of the present inventionis applied to another common elliptical exercise machine (hereinafterreferred to as an “exercise equipment 100”), the difference between thisembodiment and the previous embodiment resides on that the exercisedirection of the handle link rod 21 is in a back-and-forth swingingdirection. In fact, the apparatus of the present invention may beapplied to any type of the four-limb exercise equipments.

Since the four link rod mechanisms 22 and the transmission motor 24 areconnected by a pull rod 221, a screw sleeve 241 and two axial contacts222, 223; therefore, the elevating saddle 23 can be elevated ordescended up and down, and these belong to the area of conventionalmechanisms. In addition, the supply and control of the resistancebetween the resistance supplier 20 and the flywheel 19 are also priorart, and thus will not be described.

Many changes and modifications in the above-described embodiments of theinvention can, of course, be carried out without departing from thescope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and theuseful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limitedonly by the scope of the appended claims.

1. (canceled)
 2. Exercise equipment comprising: a support stand, a front support, a saddle support, a height adjustable saddle connected to the saddle support, a variable mechanical resistance, two pedal link rods, with rear ends of the pedal link rods coupled to the mechanical resistance, two pedals, each mounted on a respective one of the pedal link rods such that a user exerts force via their lower limbs against the mechanical resistance, and two handle link rods, each pivotably coupled at a first, lower end to a front end of a respective pedal link rod and at an intermediate position to an upper end of the front support, such that the user exerts force via their upper limbs and the handle link rods against the mechanical resistance and such that adjustment of a set height of the height adjustable saddle varies relative mechanical advantage between the user's upper and lower limbs against the mechanical resistance so as to vary a relative force allocation between the user's upper and lower limbs.
 3. The equipment of claim 2, further comprising: a transmission connected to the height adjustable saddle so as to adjust the set height of the saddle; and a control meter connected to the transmission and configured to receive user commands and store data such that a desired set height of the saddle for a given user is stored and adjusted upon command. 